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Why does orange juice taste funny after I brush my teeth? |
The Five Senses
To make your toothpaste nice and foamy while you brush, most companies put an ingredient in their paste known as “sodium lauryl sulfate,” or SLS. It’s this big tongue-twister of an ingredient which also causes that funny taste when you drink your morning OJ right after brushing your teeth!
The reason that brushing your teeth causes such a strong reaction with a sip of orange juice is that the SLS in your toothpaste is believed to temporarily cause your tongue to taste fewer sweet flavors! When your tongue is under the influence of the SLS, orange juice, which is a naturally sweet beverage, tastes unusually sour and bitter and not at all like what you’re used to!
To solve the problem, try waiting a few extra minutes after brushing your teeth before drinking the orange juice, or find out if you can buy a toothpaste without any sodium lauryl sulfate in it!
Homemade OJ!
Have you ever made your own orange juice? It's very easy to do – all you need are some oranges and a citrus juicer!
Find out if you can try to make your very own fresh-squeezed orange juice. Ask around your family to see which one everyone likes the best by doing a taste-test with the homemade juice and the kind from the store! – Just remember not to hold your testing session first thing in the morning when everyone has just brushed their teeth!
